Y Not festival confirms 50% refund for all ticket holders

Organisers of the Y Not festival – which was set to win the UK category of Festival Shambles Of The Year until Hope & Glory stepped up to plate to this weekend just gone – have announced that they are providing all ticket-holders with an automatic 50% refund after the final day of this year’s proceedings was cancelled.

As previously reported, the Derbyshire event was a wash-out this year turning the festival’s site into a total mud-bath. There was considerable criticism of the way festival management dealt with the weather conditions – given heavy rainfall is always a possibility – while many ticket-holders also criticised onsite and online communications. Some made a link between those perceived failings and the festival’s change of ownership last year, Y Not now being part of Global’s growing festival empire.

During the immediate fallout of the event, organisers insisted that they did have measures in place to deal with the heavy rainfall. Meanwhile in a new statement, management say that it was the “extraordinary and highly unpredictable” weather conditions that made matters so bad, and ultimately required that the final day of the event be called off.

The festival’s apologetic new statement begins: “Over the past twelve years Y Not has built a reputation as an honest and sincere music festival, providing the promise of a good time. A lot of the same team have been involved with the festival since the beginning and we know that Y Not could never have existed without the trust and support you have shown us over the years. It has been so distressing to see that damaged over the past few days”.

It goes on to explain: “We were hit with extraordinary and highly unpredictable weather both during the build and over the weekend itself. There were levels of infrastructure in place to deal with adverse weather, however we reached a point when the forecast was changing hourly and there became a risk that emergency services would not be able to access areas of the site. Everyone’s safety will always come first and the most difficult decision we’ve ever had to make became the only responsible option”.

Acknowledging the various criticisms about festival staffing, security and communications, in addition to punter disappointment about the final day being cancelled, the statement adds: “This year we completely recognise this was not the Y Not festival you deserved and it’s not the experience we wanted to give you. We have listened to all your concerns about how the event was delivered and there will be more detailed information on how we’re addressing this, coming soon. Our intention with every Y Not is to give you the best weekend of your year. We are very sorry that so many of you did not have the experience you had hoped for, and we deeply regret the disappointment caused to all of you”.

Looking to the future, the statement concludes: “We will return in 2018, fully committed to delivering the best show in our history and putting right what went wrong in 2017. We want to address the feedback we’ve received about the festival this year, which we will release further information on in the near future. Thank you all for your support and again, our apologies”.

Ticket-holders will automatically receive a 50% refund of the face value of their ticket, not including booking fees and such like.